Coyote
Coyote was a heavyweight robot which competed in Series 9 and 10 of Robot Wars. It was built by Jamie McHarg, previously a member of PP3D Robotics. In its first appearance on the show, it qualified from its Group Battle but was unable to win any of its Head-to-Head battles. In Series 10, Coyote finished fourth in its heat in spite of defeating Hobgoblin, after being defeated by Thor twice and losing its Third Place Playoff to Expulsion. Design Coyote was driven by two wheels with large tyres. At the front, it was equipped with an overhead clamp with orange LED 'eyes', which works in conjunction with two lifting jaws, flush to the ground. This large weapon took up half of the robot's entire weight. At the back of the robot was a chainsaw, making Coyote the first UK competitor to use the weaponry since Series 4. This weapon was driven by a Scorpion 4025-1100kV electric brushless motor running at 22.2V on a 9:1 ratio, giving the chainsaw a top speed of 3000rpm. Like Matilda, Coyote's chainsaw tail could also move up and down. Coyote's back panel was also inspired by Dead Metal. Coyote's chassis was constructed from Team Danby's past middleweight Tanto Jr, and also reused some components from the same machine, such as Tanto Jr's anti-spinner wedge which would later be used as an interchangeable weapon by Coyote in Series 10, for matches where it required a defensive weapon. In this form, it created an actuated lifting scoop, the back end of which was angled upwards to stop spinners from connecting with the main body of Coyote. Similarly, the linear actuator powering Coyote's grabbers were originally sourced from the Series 5 version of Suicidal Tendencies, after passing through various owners before being bought by Jamie McHarg. A new chassis was built for Coyote in Series 10, following the destruction of the previous version at the hands of Carbide. The new Coyote heavily used pipework for its outer frame, consisting of 22mm copper pipe containing 20mm mild steel bars. Coyote's weaponry was now made from mild steel, replacing the HARDOX used by the previous model. The base of Coyote in Series 10 was also decorated with a 'Cheshire cat grin', which was not seen on television. In Series 10, Coyote was also accompanied by a minibot, Roadrunner, a birdlike sit-and-spin thwackbot, designed purely to serve as a distraction while the main body of Coyote aims to grab opponents, and to activate the Arena Tyre. Roadrunner was invertible, and was particularly light at an intended 10kg, meaning that Coyote generally had to battle without its chainsaw in order to use Roadrunner, as Coyote was otherwise 107kg. Etymology Coyote is named after coyotes, also known as prairie wolves. While not the direct inspiration behind the name, Coyote would also reference the Looney Tunes character Wile E. Coyote, in partnership with the minibot entered alongside Coyote in Series 10, which the team named Roadrunner, after Wile E. Coyote's rival in the cartoon. The Team Team Coyote was captained by 29-year old gas service and repair engineer Jamie McHarg, who designed and built Coyote, and was its driver in all of the robot's battles. Jamie McHarg had previously competed in Series 8 as part of PP3D Robotics, with their robot PP3D. In Series 9 and 10, Jamie McHarg was joined by 28-year old Rachel Gibson, a facilities technician by trade. Rachel Gibson was responsible for all of the welding that Coyote required, and was also the robot's weapons operator in combat. Gibson also contributed to the programming and electronics of the machine. CNC machine operator Calum Jones was also present in both Series 9 and 10, having previously entered the 2016 pilot as the team captain of Reaper. Calum Jones was involved with the construction and maintenance of Coyote between fights, and also drove the minibot Roadrunner in Series 10. Calum Jones was a very vocal member of the team in battles, often shouting 'lads lads lads' before plenty of his televised battles. In Series 10 only, Team Coyote also featured Tony Smith, a Glasgow-based college lecturer who had previously qualified for Series 8 with Pod and Series 9 with Clyde Built, before withdrawing from both. Tony Smith contributed to Coyote through CAD work and logistics. Qualification Coyote qualified outright for Series 9 through open applications. As Series 10 reduced the number of competitors from 40 to 30, Team Coyote narrowly missed out on the initial selection when the upgraded Coyote applied, but was chosen as one of five reserves to attend filming. When it was declared that Deadlock would not be finished in time for its Group Battle, Coyote filled its place, becoming the third reserve and penultimate robot to join the cast of Series 10. Robot History Series 9 Coyote competed in Heat 5, where it faced newcomers Rusty and Ms Nightshade, along with the reigning champion Apollo in its first battle. Coyote immediately made its way over to Ms Nightshade and tried in vain to push it backwards, before Apollo came in and hurled Ms Nightshade skyward, with it landing on top of Coyote. Coyote was then pursued by Apollo, which only managed to flick Coyote up slightly. After nudging Rusty, Coyote was once again in the sight of Apollo, which rolled it through the air and into the CPZ with a flip. After this, Coyote remained in the CPZ for a period, capable of only spinning in circles. Coyote was thrown once more before Rusty was declared immobile, which confirmed Coyote's progress to the Head-to-Heads with Apollo. Before Coyote's first Head-to-Head battle against Crackers 'n' Smash, the team made the decision to remove their chainsaw for future fights due to damage the weapon sustained in its Group Battle. Coyote moved to its left to clamp down onto Smash and drove it into the arena side gate, before turning and moving it into the claws of Dead Metal. After taking damage from the House Robot, Smash came in with a ram on Coyote and attempted to force it into Dead Metal, although Coyote spun away and Smash was caught once again. Coyote then decided to activate the Arena Tyre, which called Dead Metal into the action, and Smash was placed onto the Flame Pit. Smash then moved away and drove over the top of its teammate, Crackers, which finally got involved and slipped underneath the side of Coyote. Smash took its turn at pressing the Arena Tyre, which signalled Rogue House Robot mode again. This time, it was the turn of Matilda to attack, and Coyote was forced to weather a hit from the House Robot's flywheel on its jaws. After this, Coyote struggled for movement on its right-hand side, and a flurry of bumps and rams from Crackers 'n' Smash left Coyote motionless in the CPZ. Suddenly, Smash drove itself over the Flame Pit, where it failed to move away from, with Crackers left as the only mobile robot at the end of the countdown. With Coyote's immobilisation confirmed, it ended its first Head-to-Head battle with a loss. Post-fight, Jamie McHarg noticed the damage inflicted by Matilda, with focus also turning towards Coyote's second Head-to-Head battle against reigning champions, Apollo. Unable to flatten their jaws in time for the fight, the team instead sharpened the jaws to inflict ramming damage. Coyote failed to move out of the starting gates, immobile on one wheel, and spun around until Apollo engaged with it, where a flip sent Coyote onto its back and into Sir Killalot's CPZ. Coyote was shunted out of the danger area by the House Robot, but once again was only able to move inside its own circumference. Another Apollo flip saw Coyote land right-side up, but its top jaw was snapped in the process. Coyote found itself stuck between Apollo and Sir Killalot for a period, before it was stacked up against the arena gate, and with Coyote unable to move, Apollo followed up with another flip, which sent Coyote over the arena wall and down into the trench. Pointless after two Head-to-Head battles, Coyote was already eliminated, but it still had one final battle against Series 8 runner-up Carbide. With Coyote's jaw repaired from its previous fight, Team Coyote entered the arena in hope of ending their Head-to-Head campaign with some points on the board. Coyote charged across the arena floor straight away but shot past Carbide in doing so. After turning around, Coyote was met with a head-on blow from Carbide which sent it reeling towards Sir Killalot. As Coyote attempted to escape the CPZ, Carbide came in with another attack that buckled the armour protecting the right hand wheel, which allowed Sir Killalot to pick Coyote up and hold it over the Flame Pit. Coyote twitched after being dropped down onto the arena floor before being met with another scintillating Carbide slam which ripped the wheel from Coyote's left side off. Coyote was now left motionless, but this did nothing to halt the Carbide assault, as further damage was carried out while Coyote was being counted down. Coyote was then thrown by the Floor Flipper before finally being put out of its misery by the sounding of cease. This saw Coyote end its Head-to-Head campaign bottom of the table with zero points. Series 10 A rebuilt Coyote returned in Heat 5 of Series 10 as a reserve, filling in for Deadlock, which withdrew due to being incomplete at the time of recording. In its Group Battle, it fought fellow Series 9 returnee Expulsion and Series 8 Grand Finalist Thor. It entered the arena equipped with its lifting forks, and rear chainsaw. Immediately, Coyote charged into Expulsion, knocking the latter off its wheels and pushing it into the wall. This left Expulsion stranded on its side; however, Coyote was caught by Dead Metal as a result, the House Robot spinning and pushing it onto the Flame Pit before slicing through its outer pipework. Coyote backed away as soon as it was released, only to get itself stuck on the partially-opened pit. The pit was soon raised to let it escape, but with Thor activating ‘Rogue House Robot’, Dead Metal spun Coyote round as she left her CPZ to attack the competitors. Coyote was then pushed into the wall by Thor, but drove away, dodging Thor before driving head-on into the latter and sustaining an axe blow to its top jaw. It spun away to escape, but was repeatedly rammed and pushed around by Thor, sustaining more damage from Thor’s axe. Eventually, Coyote spun round and pinned Thor against the wall, grabbing its front wedge and dragging it back while losing one of its own pipe sections. The two competitors separated, with Coyote hesitating before Thor again pushed and axed it twice more. Each time, Coyote swerved out of the way; it eventually slammed head-on into Thor, and pushed the latter over the Flame Pit after getting scooped up by its wedge. It proceeded to push Thor towards the Arena Tyre – triggering ‘Rogue House Robot’ again – and grab one of Dead Metal’s pincers in response to her attacks. Both competitors soon resumed their attacks; a head-on slam broke Coyote’s top jaw, with Thor proceeding to push Coyote over the Flame Pit before Coyote pushed it back. Coyote was almost thrown onto its side by the Floor Flipper as it retreated, and sustained more axe blows from Thor while driving itself into an arena spike. Coyote backed away from the spikes and weathered a few more rams from Thor to survive for the full duration. The battle went to a Judges’ decision, which went in favour of Thor. With this, Coyote was consigned to the Robot Redemption stage, where it faced Hobgoblin for a chance to stay in contention. For this battle, the team opted to use their minibot Roadrunner for the first time, while removing the chainsaw from the main robot. Being friends with each other, Team Coyote and Team Hobgoblin wished each other good luck before the start of the battle. In the battle itself, Coyote began by ramming straight into Hobgoblin, withstanding a collision with the latter’s ‘egg beater’ spinner, before pushing it around the arena. It and Roadrunner drove around Hobgoblin for some time, before Coyote briefly lifted Hobgoblin onto one side and attempted to push it numerous times, gradually causing Hobgoblin's drive belt to slip. In the meantime, Roadrunner pressed the Arena Tyre, opening the pit in doing so. Coyote resumed its attacks on Hobgoblin, bumping, pushing and manoeuvring the latter around the arena. Eventually, it got its lower jaws underneath Hobgoblin, pushing and dragging it back. Coyote drove into Hobgoblin again, then Roadrunner, losing a small chunk of its pipework in the process, before pushing Hobgoblin into Sir Killalot. The latter attack fully dislodged one of Hobgoblin’s drive belts, which Coyote dragged and dropped on the arena floor as the two competitors separated. With Hobgoblin struggling for mobility, Coyote pushed it into the CPZ as Sir Killalot vacated it, leaving Shunt to come in and attack Hobgoblin as it fully lost drive. After ‘cease’ was called, it proceeded to attack and chase Shunt towards an entry gate, before being rammed into the wall by the House Robot. Nevertheless, Coyote emerged victorious, and progressed to the Heat Semi-Finals. There, it faced Thor for the second time, equipped with the lifting scoop instead of its lower jaws, and with most of its external pipework removed. Coyote dodged Thor several times in the opening moments, only to drive up Thor’s wedge and sustain an axe blow from the latter. It was pushed onto the spark jets by Thor, before being axed, chased and pushed into the wall by the latter. Coyote sustained a few more axe blows in the process, but recovered to ram Thor head-on and press the Arena Tyre after Thor axed it again and got caught in Dead Metal’s pincers. As a result, ‘Rogue House Robot’ was enabled, with Coyote driving underneath Thor as it self-righted after getting thrown by the Floor Flipper. It retreated to an empty CPZ as Matilda damaged Thor’s CO2 system, before the two competitors drove into each other again. Coyote was constantly manoeuvred around the arena by the now-weaponless Thor, almost getting thrown by Matilda’s tusks and the Floor Flipper in the process. At one point, Coyote got underneath Thor with its scoop, but was unable to lift it effectively. It resorted to ramming Thor again, only to lose more parts of its pipework as Thor rammed it into an entry gate in response. Coyote drove over the lip of the Floor Flipper and near the arena spikes, nearly getting flipped over by each hazard in the process. The two robots circled round and rammed each other once more, with Coyote getting pushed round a few more times before ‘cease’ was called. The battle went to a Judges’ decision, which unanimously ruled against Coyote as a result of it being unable to use its weapons effectively throughout. Following its loss, Coyote fought Expulsion again in the Third Place Playoff, for a chance to qualify for the 10 Robot Rumble, and maintained its anti-spinner wedge. This time, Coyote started more tentatively, following Expulsion around as the latter drove over the spark jets. Coyote sustained a hit from Expulsion’s tool spinner, which tore part of one of its pipes off, before briefly pinning it against an entry gate. It bumped into the gate itself as Expulsion drove free, and momentarily stopped moving after turning away from the gate. Coyote pursued Expulsion again as the latter drove into Matilda and the walls, before slamming and pushing it across the arena. As it turned away from a fleeing Expulsion, Coyote suddenly stopped again, lifting both of its weapons up – it shuffled back and forth, but soon lost drive completely in the centre of the arena. While Expulsion proceeded to attack – and was flipped by – Matilda, Coyote was counted out, and lost the playoff. As a result, it finished fourth in its heat, and was eliminated from Series 10. Results |} Wins/Losses *Wins: 2 *Losses: 6 Series Record Coyote VT.jpg|Coyote in its Series 9 VT coyote gateway.png|Team Coyote's 'Hero Shot' Coyote clocks.jpg|Coyote in the pits in Series 10 Coyote O'Clock.jpg|Coyote's clock aesthetic Coyote s10 arena.png|Coyote in the arena during Series 10 Outside Robot Wars Coyote, as well as Rusty, is associated with Scot Bots, which educates Scottish youth about robotics. Both robots appeared at Glasgow Science Centre as part of the Science Lates: Get Curious event on April 8th, 2017, where Coyote debuted its new jaws and chainsaw. Coyote's top jaw was listed on eBay in April 2017. When the auction ended in early May, the item sold for a final price of £122. Other parts of Coyote were later sold in Alex Brown's Charity Auction. The Series 10 version of Coyote made its live circuit debut on January 8th in Dublin, at an event hosted by Mechatrons. In its first battle, it fought Iron-Awe 5. Despite Iron-Awe 5's flipper only achieving two flips before it stopped working, it was able to beach Coyote on the wall, and thus Coyote lost the battle by knockout. It then lost to ThunderChild in similar fashion - despite being freed later into the battle, Coyote was deemed to have been immobile for long enough to lose the battle by knockout. In three more battles, it was immobilised by Iron-Awe 7 after repeated flips, immobilised by Dozer after being slammed into the arena wall to break pipework from its chassis, and was also immobilised by King Buxton 20 in a whiteboard match. The Series 10 version of Coyote was among other former Robot Wars competitors which appeared at the 2018 Robonerd event as a static display piece. In 2013, Jamie McHarg also bought Robot Wars veteran Scar from another Glasgow-based team who had other Robot Wars robots Eric and Chimera and had the intentions of restoring it. However, he didn't have the time and so sold it again to Dave Lawrie in October 2015. Jamie McHarg is now the owner of Milly-Ann Bug. In 2019, Jamie McHarg built a to-scale working replica of Shunt in its Series 3-7 guise, with both of its weapons functional and powerful. Jamie McHarg has taken Shunt to various events as a static exhibit including Scot Bots, also destroying a television in a functional demonstration at Robodojo in July 2019, and retired robots of smaller weight classes at Robonerd in August 2019. Carcinus.jpg|Carcinus critical_damage.JPG|Critical Damage dr_build207.JPG|The first version of Drumroll drumroll2.jpg|Drumroll 2 k2_build72.JPG|Kaizer in 2007 125.JPG|Kaizer at the 2009 UK Championships mobot.jpg|Mobot onyx.jpg|Onyx Reaver.jpg|Reaver Reaver 19.jpg|Reaver in July 2019 Team member Jamie McHarg has fought on the live event circuit mainly with featherweights under his own team called Team Terminal Damage, which was later renamed to RogueTwo Robotics. Jamie McHarg has fought with the following robots: *'Carcinus:' A black two-wheeled robot with electric jaws similar in design to the Series 6-7 version of Kan-Opener. This featherweight was built in 2009 mainly for Jamie's father Michael to drive at events. *'Critical Damage:' A featherweight made from an inverted wheelbarrow painted in the colours of the Scottish Saltire flag. *'Drumroll:' Jamie's most successful featherweight, equipped with a spinning drum. Drumroll has been fighting since 2007, finishing runner-up in that year's Tag-Team Championships paired with Gary Cairns' featherweight Hornet 2, and finishing fourth in the 2009 UK Championships. Later upgraded to the invertible Drumroll 2. *'Kaizer:' A four-wheel drive rammer which was at one point fitted with a pair of lifting forks, similar to those of Series 2 champion Panic Attack. This robot has since been sold to Ceri Jenkins. *'Mobot:' Originally built from a Scot-Bots kit, a two-wheel drive rammer named after British Olympic runner Mo Farah, constructed during the time of the 2012 Olympic Games, and named after his signature celebratory pose, pictured on the robot. *'Onyx:' A two-wheel drive featherweight armed with an electric axe. *'Reaver:' A four-wheel drive robot originally built from a Scot-Bots kit before being heavily modified, armed with a vertical pincer. *'Revolver:' An invertible drum spinner converted from 722. *'GERTY:' A 7kg invertible wedge robot operated and maintained by Rachel Gibson. Team Coyote found great success at the Robodojo event in July 2019, having originally signed up with Revolver, but ultimately entered the full combat competition with Drumroll 2, whilst Rachel Gibson entered the sportsman class with GERTY and Jamie McHarg fought in the same class with Reaver. Although GERTY only won one of its four fights due to a faulty speed controller, Reaver earned third place out of 24 in the sportsman class having won three of its four head-to-heads and then emerged victorious in the seven-way rumble for third place. Drumroll, under the name Revolver, won the full combat event with three back-to-back wins against Elevate 2, Forge Master II and Sawcerer, along with a win by default over Telekinesis, finishing the event with a demonstration of Jamie McHarg's Shunt replica. In August 2019, the team (now known as Caley Creations) competed with two robots in the UK Featherweight Championship 2019. Revolver was revealed to be a rebranded 722, and was driven by Jamie McHarg, while his father Michael drove Drumroll 2. Revolver lost its opening battle to Plastic Fantastic after being pitted, but pelted Elevate out of the arena in its second battle. However, this broke Revolver's drum spinner ahead of its battle with Amnesia Amnesia, which it lost as a result. Revolver still earned a win by default over Virus, and a direct win over Blunt Force Trauma 3, allowing it to finish third in its group, but lost its qualifier for the Top 16 after being double-teamed by Barghest and Crabsolutely Clawful. Drumroll 2 was slightly more successful, finishing third in its group and winning its Top 16 qualifier over Red Hot Tilly Pecker, but it was defeated by Barghest in the main bracket. For more information on the excursions outside of Robot Wars from other members of Team Coyote, see Reaper for Calum Jones, and Clyde Built for Tony Smith. Trivia *Coyote is the only robot in Series 9 to have never had its weapon read out by the announcer. Instead the robot's introduction stated where the robot came from, which would be repeated as the teams entered the arena. *Coyote's linear actuator started life in the Series 5 version of Suicidal Tendencies - this component passed through various different owners, before eventually being sold to Jamie McHarg by Matthew Pearman in 2016. External Links *Coyote - Robot Wars Facebook page *Team Coyote Twitter *Coyote's announcement trailer *[http://www.robotwars.tv/competitors/season-9/week-5/coyote/ Coyote (Series 9) on the official Robot Wars website] *[http://www.robotwars.tv/competitors/season-10/week-5/coyote/ Coyote (Series 10) on the official Robot Wars website] References Category:Robots with Lifters Category:Robots with Vertical Crushers Category:Robots with Chainsaws Category:UK Series competitors Category:Robots from Scotland Category:Robots which debuted in Series 9 Category:Animal Based Robots Category:Robots Thrown out of the Arena Category:Robots with more Losses than Wins Category:Robots from Ayrshire Category:Robots with Lifting Scoops Category:Robots with Interchangeable Weapons Category:Robots based on canines Category:Minibots (robots) Category:Clusterbots